Tag: Industry - Page 9
News Six Months After Closing Tango Gameworks, Xbox 'In the Market' for Asian Studios
Phil Spencer talks possible acquisitions
Phil Spencer, Xbox's top dog, has made it clear that it remains interested in acquisitions, with one eye on the Asian games industry. Microsoft made history when it concluded its enormous $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. Though this took a long time to close, it followed on from the...
News Game Size Not as Important as It Used to Be, Says Yakuza Creator
Rather, it's about how you use the content
Yakuza/Like a Dragon creator Toshihiro Nagoshi says the era of games needing to be as big as possible is fast coming to an end. With the nonstop onslaught of game releases fighting for players' limited free time, Nagoshi says it's only natural that games will be judged less harshly on their size as the...
News Square Enix's New AAA Games Are Being Trounced by Final Fantasy 14
Profitable MMO segment still winning
The venerable MMO Final Fantasy XIV, once considered an abject failure, is now pointed to as an example of a video game redemption arc. Over the years, Square Enix has come to rely on the regular, predictable profits it draws from the title's vast player base, and the massively multiplayer game has become one of...
News Single Player Western RPG from Lies of P Pub Will Be One to Watch on PS5
Neowiz sheriff-a
Korean publisher Neowiz demonstrated its commitment to interesting ideas with the excellent Lies of P, and it’s just signed a deal with Polish start-up Zakazane to publish its new single player western RPG. The game’s said to take place in a remote mining town, where you’ll assume the role of a sheriff tasked with solving a...
News Australia's Planned Social Media Ban to Include PSN
Albo, you've got to be joking, mate
Australia's current Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, plans to impose strict rules on teenagers' use of social media. With broad support from the states and both major parties in agreement, the Online Safety Act could pass before the end of the year, likely being introduced in 2025. It...
News NetEase Execs, Employees Arrested on Alleged Money Laundering and Bribery Charges
Marvel Rivals, Destiny: Rising developer embroiled
Nine staff members from the Chinese conglomerate NetEase have been arrested on charges of money laundering and bribery. Those detained include two of the company's executives: NetEase Games' general manager Xiang Lang and esports lead Jin Yuchen. Picked up by Chinese language outlet Leifeng and...
News PlayStation Has Swiftly Solved Its Profitability Problem
The graphs are going up
You may remember over the past year there’s been a lot of handwringing over PlayStation’s profitability. As is so often the case, this all got bundled up with Xbox’s issues, and numerous thinkpieces were written about the console market as a whole. Well, Sony’s largely already solved the issue. In its latest earnings...
News PS5 Pro Could Cost Almost $1,000 if Proposed Tariffs Are Imposed
Price hike
If you already think PS5 Pro is overpriced, then it could be about to get even more expensive in the US – and potentially through no fault of Sony’s own. Gizmodo reports that, following Donald Trump’s election victory earlier this week, he could impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese exports once he assumes office in January next...
News Nintendo and The Pokémon Company Want to Stop the Sale of Palworld
Claims the game infringes on its patents
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are seeking an injunction which will block the sale of Palworld, it’s been revealed. Earlier this year, just days prior to the indie game’s PS5 release, the Mario maker filed a patent lawsuit against developer Pocketpair – and now we have more details about what it...
News Sony Comments on Concord Disaster, Says Game Should Have Been Tested Earlier
User testing and internal evaluation needed to be sooner
Sony has claimed it should have been performing internal tests of Concord earlier than it was to spot the mistakes that led to its disastrous launch. Speaking during a Q&A session part of its latest Q2 financial earnings call, Sony president Hiroki Totoki said the firm is still going...
Random Super Smash Bros Maker Masahiro Sakurai Says He Bought a PS5 Pro Today
Super spend bros
Industry icon Masahiro Sakurai – the eternally young creator of the Super Smash Bros franchise and founder of Sora Ltd – plunged deep into his wallet today to purchase a PS5 Pro console. “I bought it,” he wrote on social media, next to an image of the supercharged system’s box. While the new system has sparked global...
News Take-Two CEO Says Borderlands Movie Bombing 'Didn't Hurt at All'
Like water off a duck's back
When the Borderlands movie bombed on the world stage, it barely managed to scrape back its marketing budget, let alone what was spent securing the likes of Cate Blanchett and Jack Black. But Take-Two Interactive ZEO, Strauss Zelnick, doesn't think it did lasting damage to the video game franchise from which it was...
News Don't Nod Staff to Strike in Paris, Workers Demand Redundancy Plan Be Abandoned
French revolution
Last month, Parisian developer/publisher Don't Nod announced it would cancel multiple projects, reorganise the company, and eliminate a strangely specific 69 positions in the process. Our favourite French union, Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV), fresh off of causing headaches for Ubisoft, has a...
News Take-Two Has Sold Its Private Division Subsidiary to an Unnamed Buyer
New owner to be announced in due course
Indie games publisher Private Division is no longer part of Take-Two, as it’s been sold to an undisclosed buyer. Strauss Zelnick, the firm’s head honcho, told GamesIndustry.biz that the new owner will be disclosed soon. The sale, according to the exec, will allow the firm to focus on larger projects...
News Netflix's Recent AAA Studio Closure Part of Planned AI Pivot
Team "Blue" boasted veterans of God of War, Halo, and Overwatch
Last month, Game File reported that Netflix had unceremoniously shuttered one of its internal development studios, "Team Blue". Likely having spent vast sums on securing splashy talents like longtime Halo creative lead Joseph Staten and God of War art director Raffael Grassetti, those...
News Survey Finds 21% of European Games Industry Professionals Were Laid Off in Last Year
Brain drain
According to the annual Big Games Industry Employment Survey, run in conjunction with the Values Value recruitment agency and career platform InGame Job, a sobering almost 21% of European games industry professionals have been laid off in the last year; some found new jobs, others found work outside of the industry, and still more are...
News Labour Union Blasts Sony for Looking to Further Monopoly with Studio Closures
Eh?
Labour union the Communication Workers of America (CWA) claim that Sony’s recent closures of Concord developer Firewalk and mobile studio Neon Koi are evidence of it looking to further its “monopoly position in the video game industry”. It’s also warned that it’ll be sharing its concerns with regulators and policymakers. Firewalk was...
News PlayStation's Dual CEO Setup Has 'Opportunities and Risks'
"It's a balance"
Sony took the bold decision of replacing ex-CEO Jim Ryan with two executives. Hermen Hulst is in charge of PS Studios and first-party software, while Hideaki Nishino runs the hardware business. It’s an ambitious structure, and one that could easily lead to conflict: after all, you could argue a way to grow PS Studios is to release...
News Sony Adopting 'Show Don't Tell' Strategy with PS5
"The product should be the forward-facing thing"
For a site like ours, which lives and breathes PlayStation, we’d be lying if we said it hadn’t been a frustrating generation. The reality is our daily schtick has always hinged on Sony being vocal and fan facing, but since the release of the PS5, the platform holder has become quiet and secretive...
News Wolverine PS5 Lead Dev Leaves for Xbox's Perfect Dark Team
Reportedly due to "creative decisions"
Marvel's Wolverine has lost its original creative director Brian Horton to Xbox's upcoming Perfect Dark title, a Game File report has revealed. As confirmed by both Sony and Microsoft representatives, Horton made the switch in the summer and Marcus Smith has taken his place, who has served in directorial roles...
Random Suda51 Claims to Have Met Mysterious Sales Maestro, Wario64
"I told him, 'Yeah, of course I know about Wario64. Wait a second - are you him?!'"
Eccentric developer Goichi "Suda51" Suda, the founder of Grasshopper Manufacture and creator of No More Heroes, claims to have met the person (or one of the persons) behind the beloved Wario64 X (formerly Twitter) account. If you've been a gamer in the age of social...
News Concord Cost Sony Over $200 Million, And Didn't Make a Single Cent
A price to pay
There’s been much discussion about how much money Sony wasted on gigaflop Concord, and now we have a ballpark estimate. It had previously been reported that the company had spent $400 million on the game, although this number always seemed a little high. Now Kotaku is citing two sources as saying the initial development deal for the...
News After a Tough Few Months, Sony Says It'll Keep Making PS5 Live Service Games
Searching for ways to evolve revenue streams
In a devastating statement issued today, Sony announced the closure of two studios it acquired under co-CEO Hermen Hulst’s tenure – but it’s not deterred it from chasing the live service gravy train. The
News Sony Shuts PS Studio Neon Koi without Ever Releasing a Game
Swimming with the fishes
In addition to shutting down Concord developer Firewalk Studios, the Japanese giant has also closed German developer Neon Koi. This lesser known team was originally purchased as Savage Game Studios in 2022, with the intention of making mobile games.
News PS5, PC Flop Concord Never Returning, Studio Closed Down
Crash landing
In a devastating PS Studios update, bigwig Hermen Hulst has confirmed that following a period of consultation, PS5 and PC gigaflop Concord will never be returning and developer Firewalk Studios has been closed down. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, around 172 people will lose their jobs, although Sony does say it’s trying...
Project Latitude continues
The ongoing will-they-won't-they story surrounding Xbox and its plans to release some of its games on rival platforms continues apace. After some dubious online scuttlebutt, Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, appears to have inadvertently nullified rumours that this strategy is slowing down. A leaker who goes by eXtas1s...
News Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'
Shawn Layden wasn't surprised by closure
Sony’s shuttered Japan Studio, a much-loved team by PlayStation enthusiasts, was not a hit factory when it closed. The developer worked on numerous fan-favourite franchises – like Gravity Rush and Ape Escape – but many of these failed to resonate commercially, and the department was infamously chaotic...
News The Day Before Dev Cancels Kickstarter Bid, Brazenly Announces Another Game
Try, try, try again
Developer Fntastic, whose exploits we've long chronicled as they once threatened to bring The Day Before to PS5, is back again. Having laid low for a while, the studio emerged last month, attempting to raise funds for a new "project". That didn't work, so the persistent t
News PlayStation, Bungie Still Going Ahead with Internal Live Service Team
Will support all of Sony's live-service titles
There's been little mention of the "SIE Live Service Centre of Excellence" since Sony acquired Destiny 2 team Bungie a few years ago, but it still sounds like the initiative is going ahead in some form. Bridget O'Neill, a lead figure at Bungie Creative Studios, has shared her team will be joining...
News Naughty Dog's Next Game Will Reportedly Put More of a Focus on 'Player Freedom'
Spoiled for choice
In huge news for fans tired of its cinematic schtick, developer Naughty Dog's next game will reportedly feature "a lot of player freedom". That's according to a tantalising tidbit from MinnMax founder Ben Hanson and "somebody very in the know, who worked on the game". Transcribed by VGC, Hanson relayed word of one of the several...
News Ubisoft Labour Woes Spread, Milan Office Strikes in Solidarity
European conflict
In solidarity with the 700 French Ubisoft employees who walked off the job across its Paris, Lyon, Montpellier, and Annecy offices last week, Ubisoft's Milan office downed tools as the unhappy company sentiment spread to Italy. The dispute began over a return-to-work mandate for French employees, with Milanese staff taking...
News Outersloth Indie Fund Partners with Slay the Spire Dev and Mysterious Moneyed Benefactor
Who is [MYSTERY FRIEND]?
Outersloth, the recently-revealed publishing arm of developer Innersloth, the studio behind indie mega-hit Among Us, has partnered with Slay the Spire developer Casey Yano and a mysterious "indie friend" to right at least some industry wrongs. In an era of cancellations and closures, Outersloth has reportedly signed 13...
News Ex-PlayStation Exec Shawn Layden Says There's Been a 'Collapse' in Gaming Creativity
Do you agree?
Shawn Layden, the ex-PlayStation executive who held a number of high-profile roles across Sony Interactive Entertainment, believes there’s been a “collapse” in creativity across the industry due to “studio consolidation and the high cost of production”. Speaking in Singapore at Gamescom Asia, as reported by...
News Don't Nod Financials Result in Reorganisation and Layoffs, Cancelled Projects
French union calls workers to action
More industry pain is coming, with Paris-based publisher/developer Don't Nod announcing a round of layoffs and the cancellation of two indefinitely delayed projects. This news comes alongside the company's latest financial report, which shows an 11% year-over-year drop in operating revenue. Much of the blame, at...
News As Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Explodes, Bandai Namco Is Reportedly Cutting Staff and Projects
Apparently pressuring employees to resign
Video games publisher Bandai Namco has been culling both projects and staff due to "lackluster demand". That's according to a new report from Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources "familiar with the matter". According to the report, Bandai Namco's approach to reducing staff is not to make them redundant, but...
Random Hideo Kojima's Chronic Back Pain Symptom of Carrying Video Game Industry, Fans Say
Back Hurtman's gone and done his back again
Beloved video game designer and industry icon Hideo Kojima has hurt his back again. For those of you who are not closely monitoring the situation, Kojima first publicly reported back pain on 24th September. While we are not medical doctors, in our opinion, this could be a flareup of that original injury,...
News Lawsuit Alleges Ubisoft Illegally Shared Users' Data with Meta
Sharing is caring
Another day, another fire for the folks over at Ubisoft to put out. The French firm is now facing a class action lawsuit that alleges it illegally shared personally identifiable information harvested from users of the Ubisoft Store with Meta, formerly Facebook. As
News Ubisoft Comments on Buyout Reports, Says That It 'Regularly Reviews Options'
Corporate machinations
After reports suggested the founding Guillemot family and Chinese publisher Tencent were in talks to take Ubisoft private, Reuters noted a 30% jump in the firm's floundering stock price. It's clear investors have an appetite for such a move, so the French publisher has been forced to comment on recent "press speculation". In...
News SEGA Has Been Quietly Killing It This Year, Regularly Publishing Bangers
Credit where it's due
Plucky Japanese publisher SEGA has had quite a tumultuous journey over the 64 years since the company was founded. From early coin-operated machines to its own tilt at the console market, these days, the firm is a publisher of games, and it's been putting out some real bangers of late. As noted in a thread on ResetEra, if you...
News Tencent, Guillemot Family Reportedly Considering Ubisoft Buyout
Publisher could go private
European publisher Ubisoft is apparently being weighed for a joint buyout between Chinese conglomerate Tencent and the founding Guillemot family. This news comes via a report from Bloomberg, with sources "familiar with the matter". Ubisoft has lost over half its market value in 2024, resulting in various options being...
News Microsoft Is Investigating Why Devs Are Prioritising PS5 Over Xbox
Wants to address "pain points"
A blog post on Microsoft's game developer website has highlighted the firm's intention to learn why Xbox is being skipped over in favour of other platforms. It's no big secret that certain developers have faced struggles with the Xbox ecosystem in recent times. The biggest example is Baldur's Gate 3, which was delayed...
News Hideo Kojima's Dream of Breaking into Hollywood Is Nearly a Reality
A Hideo Kojima Film
Love or leave them, Hideo Kojima's games have a unique directorial flair that is the creator's signature. Over the years, many have accused the auteur of wanting to direct movies, with how extensive some cutscenes became. Kojima makes no secret of his love for film, and now that he's signed with talent agency WME, it seems the...
News Dragon Quest Veterans on Dealing with 'Ridiculous Country' USA Amid Censorship Row
"Who's even complaining about this?"
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima – who played a pivotal role in the franchise’s inception with the late Akira Toriyama – have spoken candidly at the Tokyo Game Show about censorship to the upcoming Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Earlier
News With Timing Being Everything, French Union Calls on Ubisoft Workers to Strike
Guillemot family under siege
With the company's stock price approaching subterranean levels, it feels like something major is about to give over at Ubisoft. Blows have been raining down in the form of Star Wars Outlaws
News Newly Signed Law May Restrict Sony's Use of Terms Like 'Buy' or 'Purchase' for Digital Games
Score one for physical fans
A newly signed Californian law known as AB 2426 will require that digital storefronts operating within the American state (which, if it were a country, would have the fifth largest economy in the world) tell its customers they are licensing goods and not purchasing products. Sony obviously does a lot of business in...
News Ubisoft Board Orders Internal Investigation and Review into Company's Financial Woes
Won't SOMEONE think of the investors?!
The powers-that-be at Ubisoft, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, have announced an internal review and investigation of the company. This follows several setbacks for the firm, including (but not limited to) soft sales of Star Wars Outlaws and a big delay for
News Ubisoft Backs Out of Tokyo Game Show at Eleventh Hour, Cancels Livestream
Laying low for a while
In news unlikely to alter the downward trajectory of its dwindling stock price, Ubisoft has pulled out of the imminent Tokyo Game Show, citing "various circumstances" and apologising for the short notice. Ubisoft Japan made the announcement via press release, which was quickly picked up and translated. Due to these...
News Don't Nod 'Disappointed' by Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Jusant Sales
Two projects on ice, two more will be "reoriented to reach a wider audience"
Don't Nod, the publisher/developer best known for its Life is Strange series, has revealed that its most recent efforts, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant, while critical hits, "disappointed" in terms of sales. Interestingly, the company saw an increase in sales...
News A Massive 75% of UK Game Sales Were Digital Last Month
Up 10% from the previous August
Despite major publishers swearing never to go all-digital, physical game sales continue to slow as more and more people seemingly choose convenience over collection. A massive 75% of all game sales in the UK last month, 1.74 million, were digital, up 10% year-over-year since last August. This occurrence was noted by...
News Annapurna Says Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Still Happening Despite Entire Dev Team's Departure
"P.S. We're hiring"
When the negotiations to spin off into an independent entity broke down, the entire staff of publisher Annapurna Interactive, known for quirky titles like Stray, resigned en masse. This leaves the powers-that-be at billionaire Megan Ellison's larger Annapurna empire in a precarious situation. Still, it appears the entity will...
